The Galveston County Daily News

The Santa Fe High Lady Indians are off to a good start this season, recently having competed in the Pasadena Memorial High School-hosted tournament at Clear Creek Golf Club.

Haley Harris, who finished second in the summerlong Houston Golf Association’s 16- to 18-year-old bracket, continued her stellar play by finishing second at the Pasadena tourney.

Teammate Manon Burkhart had a fine outing as well, finishing eighth among the 58 players in the field.

South Shore Harbour

After many months of rumor and speculation about ownership and operation of South Shore Harbour Country Club, it appears the dust is now quickly settling.

Fact: There has been no change in ownership of the club.

Fact: Canongate (as in Magnolia Creek and several other courses in the greater Houston area) is taking over management of the 27-hole golf course and club operations.

Readers may recall that nine of the 27 holes have been closed for a few months while the greens were ripped and replaced. They are looking good and appear to be on schedule to be ready for play before 2010.

The 18 playable holes also have received attention, and those greens also eventually will be replaced.

Membership met with club officials Monday for an overview of what the new Canongate management contract will mean to golfers and social members alike. Look for details and reaction in this column next week.

Meanwhile, Ladies Golf Association play has not missed a beat, as the South Shore ladies bested seven other clubs during months of competition to bring home the championship silver trophy. More on that later.

Unique Opportunity

Never mind the price of gas. Load up your favorite foursome and share the expense in order to log three rounds on courses played by the best players in golf.

It’s been 20 years since the LPGA held a major tournament in this area, but this year they’ve saved their very best for last.

The LPGA Tour Championship will feature the top 120 players in women’s golf as it unfolds at The Houstonian Golf Club in a couple of weeks.

You and I can pay our fees and play the course.

A couple of weeks ago, the Tournament Players Course at the Woodlands hosted the best of the over-50 players on the planet. Many may recall that this venue was for many years the home of the Shell Houston Open, before its move to Redstone.

You and I can play there, too.

Finally, we can play on the Redstone Tournament Course (not the Members Course — formerly known as El Dorado Country Club), where the experience provides a solid reminder of just how good today’s top players really are. Moreover, you can boast that you have played where all the best have teed it up — except for Tiger.

Putter-ing

Most recreational players truly do not have a lot of time to devote to improving their golf games. So they arrive Saturday morning, grab a bucket of balls and head to the range to warm up.

Typically, they either skip the practice green or just hit a few putts before grabbing that last cup of coffee and hurrying to the first tee box.

Here’s a tip that might convince some weekenders to skip the range (but not the coffee) and spend more time on the putting green.

Count the number of putts you need each round for the next month. If you use two putts per hole, that’s 36 strokes per round and you probably would say that you are a pretty good putter.

With just a little bit of pre-round work on the putting stroke, you can reduce your handicap index and continue to hit just as many errant 300 yard tee shots.

But, if you drink, say, eight cups of coffee before teeing off, you might want to skip some of that as well.

Be safe, on and off the course.

Daily News golf columnist Gean Leonard can be reached at Gean.GDNgolf(at)gmail.com.